Maybe it’s just the perspective, but Lupin makes it look roughly normal car sized, whereas the photo from the article makes it look like a weird go-kart.
If you aren’t watching Lando and Max stream iRacing, you are missing half of the best F1 content these days.
Leclerc is pretty good huh. When’s the last time someone not named Hamilton won back to back?
Nico Rosberg in 2016. I think he won Italy and Singapore. Don’t remember if they were back to back races though. But yeah, just “slightly matching Hamilton” is something nobody has come close to since.
Bottas doesn’t have it. Verstappen needs a better car. Vettel is… fucking Vettel.
Mercedes wrap up sixth team championship in six years. That’s pretty incredible! No other team has done it in the history of F1.
And I found it incredible how they did it today. It seemed (to me) that Hamilton could have won the race, but the team made sure he came in for another pit stop. That meant he dropped back to third, but ensured the win for Bottas.
And Bottas, who is racing with Mercedes next year, needed that win way more than Hamilton. He even said after that it was good for his mental health.
Of course Hamilton was bitching and moaning about it, but Toto Wolff and the rest of the team are totally willing to put Hamilton through that, despite him being clearly their number one driver, to make sure driver number two is still feeling like he’s getting the job done. And Bottas is getting the job done! A solid “wingman” is what you need to win three constructors championships for the team.
Now imagine Ferrari in the same situation. Of course they aren’t in that situation, because despite the fastest car this weekend, they don’t have two drivers who can make it round the third corner of the race without messing up the start or hitting someone.
Mercedes can get away with team orders because the drivers treat the team as a team. Give Hamilton a few days, and he’ll be fine with losing the win. He knows that today wasn’t about him, but the team securing the team win, and who better to get the team across the line than Bottas.
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I agree with this analysis completely and was going to write something similar. I think that is a great challenge that Mercedes has this year and for the next couple of years - how to reap all the benefit of a historic driver like Hamilton and hold onto the best second driver possible. That is why anytime I hear or read rumors about Mercedes trying to get Verstappen or Alonso or whomever to drive the other car I completely discount it so long as Hamilton remains. For Mercedes to not only win the drivers’ & constructors’ championships 6 years consecutively, but to also have the 2nd place drivers’ championship spot most of those years is a feather in their cap that they care about.
So, how do you recruit that level of talent, manage their goals and desires, and hold off the public criticism if it is too obvious you treat one driver purely as a wingman? That wingman could be enticed to go be the focus of another team. It is impressive that they have made it work.
Racing team dynamics are weird to me. Do the two guys on a given team help each other much? Even like each other?
I imagine every driver at that level has a healthy “fuck that guy, I’m faster than him” for every other driver on the track. Every day is about him.
Last year Ferrari radioed to Kimi some thinly-disguised order to let Vettel pass him. Kimi’s response over the radio was something like “What are you asking me to do? Fucking say it”.
Is Mercedes so buddy-buddy this isn’t ever an issue?
That’s the fascinating thing about Formula 1. Being a good driver is only half of your job. You have to be a good team player, too.
But also you have to be a master of team politics. At the same time as you are trying to do the best for your team, to keep your race seat for the following season, you’re trying to screw over your teammate as much as possible, and trying to get better treatment than your teammate from the team, and trying to get the team to turn against your teammate.
Nico Rosberg tells a great story about his time at Mercedes as the teammate of Michael Schumacher. Schumacher did everything possible to put Rosberg in his place, and was utterly ruthless. In this case, there was only one toilet in the team garage, and the drivers would always have priority due to their schedule being so set during the race weekend. Nico knocked on the door and said “hurry up, I’ve got to start qualifying” but he didn’t know it was Schumacher in the toilet. Schumacher stayed in there for another six minutes, making Rosberg wait outside. Then Schumacher left the toilet, not even making eye contact with Rosberg.
Turns out Rosberg wasn’t naturally that scheming and political, and had to make a real effort to practice it and try to screw over his team mate. He couldn’t keep it up, so retired on winning his first championship.
So when he left Mercedes, after their experience with Schumacher vs Rosberg and Rosberg vs Hamilton, the team went for the least-political driver they could, one who would fit the car’s racing handling like Rosberg but come with none of the drama.
Also Bottas happened to be managed by Toto Wolff, the team owner. Which is kinda handy for him.
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Yikes, could go either way. I would be worried if my agent was also an agent of my employer.
Toto Wolff resigned as Valtteri’s manager before he joined Mercedes.
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Spending cap is going to be huge.
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Turns out that it’s true that Mercedes did give the win to Bottas in Japan. I hadn’t seen anything official about it, but I found a clear quote.
“ Ask Allison if there was one moment that stood out for him about Hamilton’s season and he does not pick a victory, or a qualifying lap, but something that reveals the intense competitiveness driving the 34-year-old.
“It would be nothing to do with his driving; it would be a character thing,” Allison says. "And that was Japan. We won the [constructors’] championship in Japan and for a whole series of reasons we took decisions that were right for the team and a tough pill to swallow for Lewis - securing the championship for the team in a way that was best for the team.”
Come on Lewis! Stick it to the man! Win every race next year.
One day Vettel will be able to drive in a straight line without fucking everything up. But not today.
Did Ferrari fire the wrong guy? Did they not fire enough guys?
Great race, happy for Gasly and Sainz, heart broken for Albon.
Agree on all points. However, I think Albon will take a good lesson from the incident. Even if Hamilton admitted his role it could have been avoided if Albon hadn’t opened the door going into that corner. When you are racing that close to someone they are going to jump on what looks like an opportunity to make a move, so don’t give them such a tempting opening even if you have the right to the racing line. Similar in principle to Verstappen last year in Brazil, you can be in the right but still end up further down the field unfortunately. So, decide if you want to force your claim or retain the opportunity to keep racing for that position. And especially to have someone like Hamilton admit his role and why he went for the move is a great learning experience for a young driver. I’ve been impressed with Albon this year and think he has a solid future as he gains more experience.